Postal employees head back to work as union challenges strike intervention

MONTREAL — Canada Post trucks, conveyors and mail carriers are moving again after a month-long strike by more than 55,000 postal workers left letters and parcels in limbo.

Following a ministerial directive, the country’s labour board ordered employees back on the job when it determined the two sides stood too far apart to reach a deal by year’s end.

Canada Post warned that customers should expect delays as it works through backlogs, and that holdups could persist into the new year.

“With a large, integrated network of processing plants, depots and post offices, stabilizing operations will take time and the company asks Canadians for their patience,” it said in a release Monday.

The first step involves “working through the mail and parcels trapped in the system” since the strike began on Nov. 15.

Post offices will not take new letters and packages until Thursday, the Crown corporation said.

Some locations seemed to be accepting them regardless though. Don Suppelsa dropped off a gift package at an outlet in Oshawa, Ont., bound for his sister and brother-in-law in Nova Scotia.

“There isn’t much time until Christmas, but it is good that they are back,” he said.

Suppelsa complained that private carriers had been taking advantage of Canadians in the postal service’s absence. “They were charging a lot more to send stuff, but I waited,” he said.

Ontario resident Roland Horner said the post office in Burlington accepted his envelopes bearing donations to the Salvation Army and other charities this morning.

“Hopefully they’ll get them before the year end,” he said.

The Canada Industrial Relations Board ordered workers back on the job after a directive from Labour Minister Steven MacKinnon, who said on Friday he was giving the two sides a “timeout” as negotiations seemed to have stalled.

The Canadian Union of Postal Workers has contested the move, with the labour board set to hear its challenges in mid-January, the union said.

The government already faces legal appeals of similar interventions in other recent high-profile labour disputes, including the work stoppage at the country’s two main freight railways in August.

Canada Post employee Kim Gozzard said she was “very happy” to return to the office and expecting a busy day.

“I feel wonderful to be back at work … to look after my customers, and hopefully get everything moving and going again,” she said in Oshawa, Ont.

Gozzard said while Ottawa’s intervention will put the union in a weaker position at the next round of bargaining, it was necessary to kickstart service.

“I feel both sides needed to be willing to sit and negotiate,” she said. “It shouldn’t have been drawn that long and I blame both sides.”

The dispute between them continues to simmer.

Key issues include the size of wage increases and a push by Canada Post to expand delivery to the weekend, with the two parties at odds over how to staff the move.

The money-losing Crown corporation has pitched the expansion as a way to boost revenue and compete with other carriers, arguing that a mix of part-time and full-time shifts will create flexibility while keeping costs down. However, the union has characterized this as an attack on full-time work.

The government has appointed an industrial inquiry commission to look into the sticking points and come up with recommendations by May 15 on how a new agreement can be secured.

The inquiry will also assess “the entire structure of Canada Post from both a customer and business model standpoint,” given the challenging competitive climate it faces, the labour minister said Friday. It has lost $3.3 billion since 2018.

While months of hardnosed bargaining lie ahead, the holiday spirit permeated the halls of one downtown Fredericton post office.

Mary Bardsley arrived at the brick building bearing Christmas cards and a Tim Hortons gift card for employees, who were greeting a steady stream of morning customers. She said she’s not worried about her holiday mail being held up.

“I’ve lived a long life,” Bardsley said with a laugh. “I can cope with almost anything.”

— With files from Nicole Thompson in Burlington, Ont., Sharif Hassan in Oshawa, Ont., and Hina Alam in Fredericton

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Dec. 17, 2024.

Christopher Reynolds, The Canadian Press